Tuesday, 24 March 2015

Honour thou Elders that thou days may be long

(First appeared in New Era 28 January 2015)

The past week my father called me from South Africa to come
and assist him with his pension pay-outs he has to receive now that he has
turned 65. My father was born during the apartheid era (in Walvis Bay) and had
completed his schooling in the Cape Province of South Africa. After school and
a few years I the private sector, he had chosen the army as a career and was
enlisted in the South Africa Coloured Corps. This was his job and not just the
normal two years stint (conscription) that was expected of every citizen. He
spent several years serving in the army, including doing duty in the northern
parts of the then South West Africa.

When I grew of age (being 18), there were many arguments in
our house as I was an active member of the student organisations protesting
against the South African occupation of Namibia. Having been born in Windhoek,
I feel I am a citizen of Namibia even though my father felt he was on the side
of the South Africans.

After Independence, it took a few years for the arguments
about politics to eventually also accept reconciliation as a reality. For me
the turning point was in 2004 when my father was declared disabled and unfit to
continue employment. It was at that time that the Bible’s commandment of
“Honour thou Mother and thou Father that thou days may be long” really struck
me.

At that time in 2004, my father was fighting the banking
system that refused to accept his disability and were threatening to auction
his house as he was not able pay his mortgage. This despite the fact that he
had an insurance policy (taken out by the bank) that was supposed to cover him
in the eventuality of death or disability. The bank in question insisted that
his disability was a “previous condition” and thus not covered by the policy.
After a year-long battle with me at his side, we were able force the bank (yes,
we had to force them to meet their obligation) to accept the medical reports of
experts and have the insurance policy pay off his mortgage.

This lesson of what businesses do to avoid giving
satisfaction to their customers (and thus making more profits) is what led me
to becoming the consumer activist I am today.

As consumers we have started to have culture of “consumer
social responsibility” towards our elderly as we willingly allow pensioners,
pregnant women and people with disabilities to be served first when there are
queues.

I would like to see our businesses in Namibia also take this
attitude and provide their corporate social responsibility through discounted
prices for the elderly, and not only on groceries, but also public transport,
electricity, water and telecommunications. Would it not be wonderful if our
elderly could receive up to 50% discount on their water and electricity and
perhaps even completed amnesty from paying rates and taxes to the local
authorities? It would be gladdening to my heart (and, according to the Bible,
add years to my life) if the government owned enterprises would also provide a
minimum number f credits or products and services to the elderly as a way of
honouring for their many years of service to our beautiful, peaceful country?
These state-owned enterprises and agencies include MTC, Telecom, Namwater,
Nampower and even the local supplier of Coca-Cola, Namibia Beverages to name
but a few.

On this topic, would it also not be a sign of a mature
country to provide sufficiently for our elderly with a state pension of at
least N$ 1,200 per month? If we give this a little thought, perhaps we too can
honour our mothers and fathers that our days on earth might be long.